Peanut's cell phone rang, waking her from a sound sleep at oh - two - hundred. Glancing at the caller ID she smiled and answered the phone.
"Hey CJ."
"Hey. Dad just got a call from General Landry a few minutes ago. They need a diplomat team to head offworld. You up for going? It's in seven hours. There's no danger, just a land dispute. Dad says that it's okay with him if you want to go, if you do, you'll have to be cleared to go off world. Aunt Carolyn said you'll be fine too. Just a few immunizations is all you'll need." Her best friend replied.
"Yeah. That's cool. I'll be there in about an hour or so." Peanut smiled faintly. She could hear him waiting on the other end of the reciever for her to hang up, she grinned sheepishly. "I'm fine, baby's fine." she teased.
"Weird cravings lately?" she could almost hear the smile in his voice.
"Actually, now that you mention it, I almost took out the ice cream vendor at the mall two days ago. How was your meeting off world?"
"The village head asked if I wanted his daughters as wives. I told him that it was a custom on my world not to interbreed with others. Teal'c told me that they held the name of the fathers in high esteem there, so I mentioned that it would dishonor the name of my father. They ate it up. I can hear my dad outside the door, I gotta' get at least another four hours sleep. No reason why you need to stay up and make the drive to the mountain alone. I can swing by and pick you up on my way in at oh - six hundred." CJ offered.
"Nah, I think I'll go in now, save myself some time to get ready. Shower and all, you know how long girls can take with this kind of thing. Besides, I've got a room on base there, I can catch some sleep if I have time before we leave."
"Yeah, about the showering thing, don't wear any makeup or use any kind of scented soaps. It's considered offensive to the people that we'll be staying with." CJ sighed.
"Good to know. Is it still raining out? I cant see anything." Peanut gently rubbed her distended belly and took a moment to sigh in contentment.
"Snowing. Dad said he can drop us both off."
"Nah, I'll be fine. My dad put snow chains on for me last week, with the warning I wasn't to use it until it snowed. My first time driving on snow tires, I'm taking it. Besides, don't I live in the opposite direction he'd have to come? He needs his rest." she put his worries to rest with ease as she dressed in the dark, phone clutched to her ear. Making her way down the stairs, she opened the door to the garage and shone her light at the three packs hanging up on hooks. Lifting down hers, she grunted at the weight.
"That's right, you guys pack your stuff right after you get back from missions and hang 'em up. I forgot about that. Smart idea, my mom tried to get us into that, but, it went the way of the dinosaurs." CJ chuckled. Peanut dropped a note on the kitchen counter before sliding into her red mustang.
"I gotta' let you go now CJ, I'm not supposed to use the phone while driving. Mom's rule, not mine. Dad seconded it when I nearly sideswiped a car while talking to him. I get grounded from driving for a month if I break the rule."
"Okay, see ya at the mountain." CJ hung up as Peanut started her vehicle. Heading out into the snow, she eased her way through the inch thick slush, carefully gaining speed.
Putting the radio to her favorite station, Peanut turned up the volume. Headlights filled her rearview mirror, she tapped her brakes to slow herself down and warn the other driver. Pregnant and alone, she needed to take it easy.
She noticed the other vehicle creeping up on her again, she tapped her brakes to warn him off. From the size of the headlights, it was most likely a truck, something that dwarfed her two door Mustang. The truck pulled up to her bumper again, she adjusted the rearview mirror slightly to reflect the lights away from her eyes. The thirty minute drive to the mountain would take considerably longer with the snow, Peanut found a stretch of clear road and unrolled her window, waving the other vehicle around her while slowing down to give them time to pass.
Without warning the truck swerved around her, the bumper clipping her drivers side door as it shot past and up the treacherous road. Fighting to regain control of her vehicle after being knocked into a spin, Peanut yelped when the Mustang slammed into something, hard, and glass rained down around her. Seconds later, she screamed in terror as the car bounced off the object it had struck, skittering across the road completely oblivious to her attempts to correct the accident. Then she was being flung around in the seatbelt as the small car slid off the road and began tumbling over and over into the darkness before finally settling upside down.
Peanut didn't move, blood tracking down her face as she hung suspended from her seat belt.
*******
When she opened her eyes, Peanut blinked in the gray light of dawn, wincing when she turned her head to look for her cell phone. The cord stuck out of the cigarette lighter, she tried to reach for it but the safety harness kept her away.
Already she could see the light on the faceplate flashing, indicating that she had missed a call. A glance at her watch said it was now oh - six - twelve, CJ would have called her parents when she didn't show up at the mountain or answered her phone. By now, at least three dozen teams were searching for her. Not long now before -
Pain cramped through Peanut's abdomen, her baby twisting in the confines of the womb.
"Easy, easy, just a little wreck. Mommy's fine, and so are you. Let's just take it easy, huh?" Peanut gasped out as the pain seared across her like a strip of fire.
"Mommy's got a plan little one. Just relax, Mommy has a plan." she continued, rubbing a hand across her bump to calm both herself and the child. Dragging her pack across the seat to her, Peanut fumbled for her knife to begin slicing through the belt holding her prisoner.
"Good thing Mommy was trained by the best, huh kiddo?" She asked rhetorically toward her unborn child. When she began to cut, pain erupted along her side, radiating outward, darkness clouding her sight as it threatened to overwhelm her.
"Mommy just broke a rib, no worries. We'll just have to wait for a bit." she continued when she could breathe again. Switching hands, Peanut carefully eased the tip of her blade underneath the harness strap and began to cut it away. Seconds later, she was able to move enough to grab her mobile phone and lift it into the line of her blurred vision.